The Liverpool Echo and BBC both have articles on their websites – see link below:-
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/crew-forced-abandon-container-ship-16324675
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-48399926
A quite remarkable listing of this huge container ship. I’ve not photographed this particular MSC vessel previously on the Mersey but here’s a sister ship of the same line:-
Click on the photo to enlarge it
Seaforth Docks seen from the Mersey with work going on to construct the river berth for Post-Panamax ships in August 2015.
There is every danger that I’ll do this subject to death but the fact remains that building the new river berth at the Port of Liverpool well before the transport infrastructure to cope with the increased freight traffic was put in place was at best a very odd idea.
The Liverpool Echo has the story of the new river berth’s progress towards bringing in more and bigger ships to the port on its web site – see link below:-
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/business/peel-says-more-big-ships-15015748
Rimrose Valley Country Park map.
Highways England announced recently that it intends to construct a brand new road down the Rimrose Valley Country Park to address the increasing port traffic and the opposition to that new road plan is gathering pace via the Rimrose Valley Friends whose web site can be accessed via the link below:-
I enjoy cycling down the Rimrose Valley, it’s a lovely green oasis amongst the hustle and bustle of the crowded part of Sefton Borough. So sad then that Highways England are to drive a new road right through the heart of it
Early last Sunday morning it felt like I had the whole valley to myself and then on the horizon the reason that the road is going to be built came into view (see photo above), the gantry cranes of Liverpool 2.
I’ve blogged about this more times than I care to recall as it has been one of the most ludicrous pieces of regional planning that you could imagine. Best described as a cart before horse scenario, the new deep water dock (built to cater for huge container ships) was constructed before the transport infrastructure needed to serve it was detailed, consulted upon or planning permission given – never mind even built.
You really would do well to make a story like this up. Now of course locals living around the Rimrose Valley are protesting about what Highways England are planning to construct through their green oasis. The latest news seems to be that Highways England are ploughing on regardless and they will not say when they are to start building the road so to keep the protestors on their toes. What a carry on………………
Click on the photos to enlarge them
The second photo is also amongst my Flickr shots at:-
Peel’s cranes at Liverpool 2’s deep water river berth for colossal sized contain ships, Seaforth.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZL_LYsb_uw
The time lapse video is on You Tube – see link above
Yes I know the new Liverpool 2 container terminal is controversial because it was built before the transport access for freight to and from it was sorted out – cart before horse I’ve heard it called – but this time lapse video is actually quite interesting and worth looking at
Rimrose Valley Country Park
How do these 3 disparate subjects fit together? Quite easily actually.
So the Port of Liverpool is expanding, that’s hardly new news but the consequences of the expansion brings with it quite a lot of bad environmental news.
You see the once well rail connected port is not so well connected to the national railway network these days. There is still one rail link with Seaforth Container Base/Liverpool 2 but just about the only rail freight moved via it are the biomass trains serving Drax Power Station. Containers have not been moved from Seaforth for quite some time now. Here’s a couple of shots of trains waiting to be loaded from the next biomass loaded ship to dock:-
So having established that little freight moves from Seaforth Docks via the national rail network and of course being aware of the expanding docks leads you pretty much to the rather obvious conclusion that the containers are being moved by road. And as the Port expands the big worry is that even more freight will move by road and that’s why Highways England want to build a new access road to the docks down the lovely Rimrose Valley Country Park.
Locals living along side the A5036 road corridor are already sick of the rumbling trucks accessing the Port and the air pollution that goes with their diesel engines. For those unsure about the A5036 it links Switch Island and the M57 and M58 Motorways to the docks.
But putting another road (in effect paralleling the A5036) right through a Country Park is hardly the solution to get locals on board with and unsurprisingly they (Rimrose Valley Friends) have said ‘no way’ and have launched a campaign to try to stop the new road ruining their Country Park. Here’s a couple of shots of their protest placards:-
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-43085594
So an impasse has been reached and at face value the local council – Sefton Borough – is on the right side of the argument (as witnessed via the link above to the BBC web site) as it is backing the environmental campaigners against Highways England. But as with many big infrastructure projects things are not quite how they seem as the inaction of the Council over many years, whilst the the port has been expanding, is in fact one very big reason why the residents living near the Rimrose Valley Country Park and alongside the A5036 are where they are now.
It was obvious to me whilst I was on Sefton Council that Bootle Labour did not want to discuss access to the Port, it seemed to be their Brexit issue if you use the analogy of national Labour today being unwilling to debate the most pressing public policy issue of our present times.
The consequence of this inaction was that the port expanded whilst no one locally really had an eye on how freight was going to access it, no one that is but what was then the Highways Agency and is now Highways England.
But why did Bootle Labour sit back and watch? Probably because they realised the problem was intractable and difficult to solve. Easier to let others come up with solutions and then blast those ideas than to try to help solve the issue by leading the debate. A problem ignored is a problem that comes back, as is happening now, but this admittedly difficult matter should have been addressed a long time ago but Bootle Labour hid behind the sofa.
Click on the photos to enlarge them
Liverpool 2’s massive new container cranes
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/stunning-pictures-reveal-secret-tunnels-14081033
The Liverpool Echo has the story – see link above
With all the objections to the Highways England ‘let’s build a new road through the Rimrose Valley Country Park’ preferred solution to try to solve the expanding Port of Liverpool’s access difficulties these old tunnels under the City may well be a far better and more environmentally sustainable solution.
For goodness sake expanding the rail access to the Port is the solution and the tunnels are already there. What’s more the present rail link to the Port is underused.
With thanks to Mike Penn for the lead to this posting